"The audience for the magazine was getting younger... as teenagers migrated to new platforms to satisfy their interest in music," he added.

Smash Hits was first published in September 1978 with Belgian one-hit-wonder Plastic Bertrand - real name Roger Jouret - on the cover.

The fortnightly magazine regularly sold 500,000 copies in the early 1980s, but its biggest-selling edition featuring Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan was bought by more than one million readers in 1989.

The Smash Hits brand will continue via Smash Hits music TV, a website and a digital radio station.

Mr Rich added: "Smash Hits revolutionised the world of teen publishing when it was launched in 1978, but 28 years later, the world is a very different place and the magazine's role and relevance on the news stand changed."

"The closure of the magazine allows us to concentrate our resources on developing the Smash Hits brand on these emerging platforms."

It has been a pioneering force in pop and we can look back fondly on the last 28 years